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Soft hands, fast feet, great head for the game, big heart and last but not least, being able to do it all when it counts the most, like that long ago Edmonton Oiler centre Wayne Gretzky.

On McEichel Night, when it was No. 1 vs. No. 2 from the last NHL draft, in their first meeting in the NHL, Jack Eichel was good but McDavid was better.

McDavid scored the first goal in the game’s first minute and the last goal with 72 seconds left in overtime to give the Oilers a 2-1 victory over the Buffalo Sabres.

The game in a lot of ways looked more like 26 vs 29, where the Sabres and Oilers were situated in the NHL standings before the two kids met, but McDavid saved everybody’s storyline.

“To be honest, it wasn’t a big deal (the match-up hype),” said McDavid, who didn’t acknowledge Eichel throughout the game on their many face-offs. No idle chatter. No pushing or shoving. On Wednesday, they’ll be announced as teammates on Team North America for the World Cup, but there was an NHL game to play Tuesday night and they can be friends this fall at the major tournament.

“Recognition on the ice? Not really. Better that way. That would just be feeding into the whole media thing if we’re giving each other shin-pad taps,” said McDavid.

“He definitely knows when it’s a big game or a hyped game … he was flying up and down the ice all night long. Scored on the first shift and the last. The winner was a tough shot,” assessed Oilers’ winger Matt Hendricks, joking that he might have gone a different place with it.

“I’d have hit the water bottle with my shot, just for TV,” he giggled.

““Good players are just able to rise to the occasion. Scoring on the first shift, then ending it on the last, is a storybook ending. He puts a lot of pressure on himself to fill your media’s needs. Lots of attention coming into the game with the McDavid-Eichel matchup and to change the game like he did, it’s pretty impressive,” said linemate Jordan Eberle, who fed McDavid for the first goal after he’d forced the puck free from defenceman Zach Bogosian.

On the last one, it was simply one man determined to end it.

And he did.

“The last goal…that was a perfect example of his speed and his deception,” said Eberle.

Eichel was beaten in the game and the scoresheet — he didn’t get a point on Cal O’Reilly’s third-period goal on an excellent Oilers’ goalie Cam Talbot — but he didn’t have to hang his head. He made a very good play early in OT to check Taylor Hall all alone after a great McDavid feed into the slot, and he came close himself in overtime on a mad dash up ice.

He had little to say afterwards, but his game spoke volumes, from the Oilers’ side.

“The two best players on the ice were 97 and 15 and that’s a real positive for Buffalo and their future along with ours, and the league. They’re fun players to watch. It was somewhat ironic that Eichel had a rush in overtime where he went wide and to his backhand, but his shot went wide and Connor picked it up and went the other way and scored. Big time players, big goals. I’m sure we’ll see a lot more from Connor and from Jack,” said Oilers’ coach Todd McLellan.

McDavid, who now has 30 points in his 28 NHL games, shrugged at his winner having eyes.

“Those backhands are tough to pick up (off the stick),” said McDavid. “I had lots of speed, and all I was thinking was get it on net.”

“When it went in, yeah, I was excited. Any time you can score in overtime and do it before friends and family, that’s special."

Eichel was on the bench form McDavid's first goal but he had a ringside seat on the winner.

“All I was thinking was, I better get back. He had lots of speed,” said Eichel.

“On my chance, I should have gone to my forehand and tried to take it to the net. Tough bounce, they break out and the puck’s in our net,” said Eichel.

The first one by McDavid was a ho-hum tuck around Lehner. A salute to the full-house who booed him after the goal as if he were a turncoat for playing in Edmonton.

When asked how he felt on the first goal on the first shift, whether he looked into the seats to see his family, he laughed. “Nah, it’s not like I'm eight years old,” he said, sheepishly.

So it ends this way.

McDavid two goals on his first matchup against Eichel.

His sense of theatre was impeccable.

“Just like Gretzky would have done, two goals,” somebody suggested to former Oilers’ winger Miro Satan, who was at the game before going to Toronto Wednesday as GM of Team Europe for the worlds.

“Yeah, but Gretzky would have had four,” kidded Satan.

ON THE BENCH: The Oilers didn’t play newcomer Patrick Maroon, acquired from Anaheim. He flew most of the day from California and coach Todd McLellan elected to go with his morning lines. The question now is who he’ll line up with Thursday in Philadelphia. Nail Yakupov played with McDavid Tuesday but if McLellan wants to keep the Draisaitl-Taylor Hall-Zack Kassian line intact, Maroon might find himself on left wing with McDavid against the Flyers ... Farm call-ups Luke Gazdic and Nikita Nikitin didn’t play.

jmatheson@postmedia.com

@NHLbyMatty

GAME REVIEW

Oilers 2, Sabres 1 (OT)

THREE STARS

1.Connor McDavid, EDM — Scored on game’s first shift and the last. What more to say.

2. Cam Talbot, EDM — Another excellent night’s work in the Oilers’ net.

Because McDavid has the same flare as Wayne Gretzky had, the ability to rise to the occasion when all eyes on him. Exclamation point on the McDavid-Eichel matchup.

NOT SO FRIENDLY

In the second period, Evander Kane cross-checked Leon Draisaitl to the ice, and Darnell Nurse raced over to slash the Sabres’ winger, leading to some witticisms not fit for print. They looked like they might drop the mitts but left it at a war of words.

KNOCKING HEADS

In the dying minutes of the third, Nail Yakupov came down the right side and was rocked by Bryan McCabe’s boy Jake. Both crashed to the ice. It looked like they’d smacked noggins on the play.

The top two picks in last year's NHL draft will square off as professionals for the first time when Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers visit Jack Eichel and the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday night. McDavid and Eichel have not opposed one another since they competed in the World Juniors in 2014, when they played for Team Canada and Team USA, respectively.

McDavid was named the NHL’s top rookie for the month of February on Tuesday.